


Lifeline

by Lxck



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Anxiety, M/M, Richie is unable to help, Scary, Unknown monster, ambiguous ending, horror fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:35:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27237388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lxck/pseuds/Lxck
Summary: Eddie stays late after work. The only one to keep him company is his husband on the phone until something else gets into the building.
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Comments: 6
Kudos: 31
Collections: HallowRen's Spooktacular IT Project





	Lifeline

**_It’s in the woods_ ** .

The sun stretched across the office floor as it followed it’s preordained dissent across the horizon, light slipping further from the room until it was gone. A building derelict save for one remaining worker, the light of his computer glaring as he worked well past the time most of the city had returned to the safety of their own homes. It wasn’t until Eddie sat back to rub the strain from his eyes that he noticed it had even gotten dark. Leaning back, the office chair creaked under the shifted weight and Eddie swiveled around to look out the window as the light of downtown shimmered in the night. Fuck. He didn’t realize how much time had passed, too engrossed in his work to pay much attention to anything else but the numbers and the adjustments that needed to be made.

One hand dropped to his desk, reaching for his phone while the other continued to press against his eye until colors ghosted behind his closed lid. He doubts it helps to go from one screen to another, but that’s the way the world is now, and he’d rather ruin his eyesight if it meant he had a message from his touring husband. It was why Eddie was in no rush to leave work. He didn’t wish to return home to an overly quiet house and make a sad reheated dinner for one. Being the only person in an office building didn’t carry with it the same bone deep loneliness a house made for two did. The glare of his screen was gentler than his computer, and he briefly considered messaging I.T to put in a blue light filter on his display. Or he could get the glasses. Richie liked him in glasses.

He really missed Richie.

Fortunately there was a string of messages from his husband, all asinine in nature but their importance resided in the way it made Eddie smile. Even hundreds of miles away, Richie managed to warm that chill Eddie couldn’t shake on his own. Standing to stretch his legs, the hand that had rubbed spots of colors into his eyes began to rub at the sore in his lower back. Even with the support pillow- which was really a maternity pillow, Richie  _ never _ let that detail go- Eddie could still feel a twinge in his lower back as he paced to the window. Maybe he could add an extra quarter mile into his run in the mornings. Or run on his break, maybe he could set up a presentation for getting a gym put in one of the empty floors of their building. There were companies with that, right?

**It’s in the shadows** .

Pacing to the window, Eddie loomed over the empty parking lot, his car parked just between the rings of two lights. A dark mass in the eerily desolate space. He didn’t think much of it; after the fucking horrors he endured, what the hell was a few feet of dark? It wasn’t like anyone else was there, their office building wasn’t exactly a hot target for muggings all the way out here. The craziest thing Eddie had seen in the lot was a used condom and it had been Richie’s. Smirking, Eddie glanced down at his phone to type out a response to his husband, missing the ghastly aggregation that scurried towards the building. The lights that still resided in Eddie’s eyes from where he rubbed too hard blocked his peripheral vision, unaware of the danger making its way into the premises.

**Eddie** **  
** I seriously hope you didn’t eat it

You’re going to get E.Coli   
Or Food Poisoning.

And I doubt Steve is going to 

nurture you back to health.

**Rich** **  
** Would you divorce me if I said I did eat it   
and it tasted delicious? Totally changed   
my life.

Mustard, Relish, and Whipped Cream   
Who fucking knew?

**Eddie** **  
** I can’t believe you fucking ate it

**Rich**

That’s what you get for leaving

me unattended.

You better not still be working

I will divorce you for that.

**Eddie**

As long as I get to keep the house

**Rich**

Babe. No.

Eddie was in the process of typing another sarcastic remark when his phone lit up with one of Richie’s google pics that made Eddie’s stomach do flips. Even now it turned like he was sixteen again and Richie had just thrown an arm around him on their walk to Spanish. Sliding his finger across the screen, Eddie lifted the phone to his ear and let his eyes settle on the world outside. There was now more light inside than out, so he could really only see the reflection of his own office since his eyes were tired and he wasn’t really trying to look outside.

An injudicious decision.

**It’s in the building.**

“You’re not seriously still working right now.” Was the first thing Richie said before Eddie could even muster up a warm greeting for his husband away. “Dude, even _ I’m _ not working right now, and my job is mostly a night gig.”

With a huff, Eddie returned to his computer to start saving his work. A moment of hesitation and Eddie sent a copy through his email so he could work on it at home after he ate that night. What else was he doing? “Time just got away from me, Rich.”

“C’mon, baby, you know I hate it when you’re out there at night.” Despite his usually airy tone, there is worry in Richie’s tone. Not enough anyone who wasn’t a certified loser would notice, but Eddie heard it. Eddie understood it. Seeing what they saw, it was anxiety inducing to have any of their friends out of their sights. But Richie couldn’t give up his career, or rather Eddie couldn’t ask Richie to give up his career. They had started small. Richie would come back between shows, they spent a lot of money on airfare but if it meant sleeping peacefully for a night, they thought it was worth it.

But it had been nearly seven years since Derry and nothing tragic or awful had happened to them, and maybe Eddie was a little full of himself about it. After all, an alien demon clown couldn’t kill him, he didn’t think anything else could.

**It’s searching the first floor** .

“Richie, I’m not even thirty miles from the city, I can see the lights from my window, it’s not like I’m in the middle of nowhere. Or Chicago or something. Nothing happens out here.”

“In space,” Richie begins, dropping his voice even deeper somehow and letting it boom like those movie trailer voice overs. “No one can hear you scream.”

Rolling his eyes, Eddie shut his computer down, the phone nestled between his cheek and his shoulder. The air of the office suddenly seems cooler on his arms, and there’s a moment Eddie shivers. All the warmth gone with the sun. He rubs his hands together, then his arms to try and heat the skin through friction. “You  _ would _ be the fucking idiot to put his face in front of an egg and get an alien put in your chest.”

“Kinky. You know how many porn videos there are out there about facehuggers?”

“No! I don’t, and why do  _ you _ ?”

Something grabbed Eddie’s ankle as he stepped back away from the desk and the man gave a sharp shout as he fell back. He hit the ground hard, phone dropping with a dull thunk against the cheaply carpeted floor. His other foot was up to frantically kick whatever had a hold of him, a dark mass emerging from under the desk as Eddie tried to yank his foot away.

“Eddie? Eddie! What the fuck? Eddie!” Richie’s voice was muffled from the distance, timbre tinny through the receiver, drowned out further by the roar of blood in Eddie’s ears. 

Every nerve in his body was tense and every thought in his mind was yelling at him to  _ Fight! Get away! Run! _ He jerked the leg that was caught toward him, pulling whatever had him forward and into the light and--

**It heard that.**

“Mother  _ fucker _ .” Hands shaking, Eddie reached forward and unraveled the strap of his very own bag from his ankle, chest aching from the moment of terror. His head felt light as adrenaline continued to run through a suddenly limp body, mind realizing there was no immediate danger. Once free, Eddie scooped his phone up, sitting on the floor as he tried to catch his breath. “I’m here! I’m alright. I’m just… It was my fucking bag, the strap was caught around my foot and I-”

**It’s on the second floor.**

“You thought it was a facehugger coming to inseminate you.” Richie teased, but there was an edge. He was just as terrified as Eddie had been, perhaps more because he knew his husband was in trouble but was powerless to do anything but stay on the line and fucking hope for the best. Even if Eddie couldn’t visibly see Richie, he knew his hands were shaking just as bad as his own. “Baby. Go home. Right now, please.”

Eddie balanced his phone on his knee as he rubbed his face with both hands now. Like he could scrub away the anxiety that gripped his throat like an icy hand. He was better than this now, he fought fucking monsters, and here he was getting worked up over a bag. Clearing his throat, Eddie picked his phone up and snatched the strap of his bag to pull it over his shoulder. “Alright, alright, I’m going home right now, okay? I’ll call you when I’m h-”

“No!” Riche cut in instantly and this time he didn’t even try to cover the fact his voice was shaking. “No, fuck, Eds, just stay on the line, okay? I’m… I hate it when you stay late, how many fucking times do I gotta ask, dude?”

Now the concern was annoying, but Eddie grit his teeth and took a moment to count to ten. Eddie got just as nervous when Richie was at a cast party or when Richie was flying all night and couldn’t have his phone on. Still, Eddie was embarrassed he had gotten spooked by a fucking bag and now Richie was going to treat him like he was made out of glass again.

**It’s on the third floor.**

“I just lost track of time, Richie, it’s not like I fucking meant to, okay? I can fucking handle an empty building. The quiet is actually nice sometimes.” He flinched, knowing that was harsh. Richie was just worried about him, it wasn’t fair for Eddie to get upset about it just because he was an idiot. “I won’t do it again, okay?”

Richie is trying to be nice, Eddie can tell by the way he can hear Richie breathing in to speak but lets the words die in his throat instead. He’s thinking about his words and the impact they might have, which was really an improvement. God, Eddie missed him. “I just got a feeling, Eds.”

“That’s what you fucking get for joking about Alien. I told you horror movies aren’t good for you. Cartoons rot your brain, horror movies give you anxiety.”

“You watched just as many cartoons as I did.” Richie retorted. “And you never watched scary movies, what’s got  _ your _ brain out of whack?”

There were several answers to that, and Eddie was entertaining the different implications of each one when there was the loud clang of a stairwell door swinging shut, the sound reverberating through the concrete confines. Whatever he was going to say was lost now as Eddie looks towards the dimly lit hall, heavy brow knit together. Who the fuck else was here this late?

**It’s almost there.**

It had to be the janitor or something. Maybe a security guard looking to see who was the idiot with the car still in the lot. Fuck, the guy probably thought it was someone in here doing something they shouldn’t. Like, corporate espionage or something. Eddie was thankful he emailed the work to himself and didn’t save it on a suspicious looking flash drive now.

“Eddie?” Richie’s voice broke through the fog in Eddie’s mind and he briefly shook his head as he remembered he was on the phone. “Eddie, what the fuck, you can’t just stop fucking talking after I said I have a feeling, dude!”

Richie was really worked up; he was overusing the word dude now like he was thirteen again. Like they were in Derry again and about to fight the nightmare incarnate. Fuck. Fuck, now Eddie could feel dread settling in the pit of his chest and he absently rubbed at his scar, jaw shifting nervously. “Richie. I love you. But shut the fuck up, man. You’re fucking stressing me out, there’s nothing here.”

“Then why were you quiet right there? You see something?”

“Someone slammed a door, Rich! Probably the security guard looking for who’s car is still parked here. I’m going to have the actual police here in a second thinking I’m loitering.”

“ _ Then go the fuck home, Eddie _ !”

“I’m going right now, asshole!” Eddie snapped, but his voice dropped to a whisper as he moved towards his office door and flicked the lights off. The office space was suddenly freezing, and Eddie found himself hesitating to grab the doorknob. Like there was an instinct kicking in.  _ Survive _ .

**It’s here** .

The door to the stairwell burst open with a solid  _ bang _ , swinging hard enough to slam against the wall beside it. Eddie shrank back instantly, dropping to his knee and moving away from the window on the door to crouch in the shadows. His finger scraped the side of his phone until he could turn the in call volume as low as it would go, Richie's voice still loud enough to break through the pounding of Eddie's heart and the roar of blood in his ears. His back pressed to the wall, head tipped back as he tried to breathe. Tried to think but he couldn't, Richie's concerned babbling at Eddie's sudden silence coupled with the overwhelming suffocation of unbridled terror.

"Shut up." Eddie finally managed, throat feeling tight and constricted as he raised his eyes to the windows which served as a mirror now. The square of light from Eddie's office door window a blinding white against the stark black of the empty office. "Richie just fucking shut up, there's something here."

Whatever was out there, it's footsteps thumped heavily down the hall.  _ Thunk _ .  _ Thunk _ .  **_Thunk_ ** . Closer it drew as Eddie shrank against the wall to make himself invisible. His breath exhaled shakily into the receiver, only making Richie's panic worse as he threatened to call the police so Eddie better drop the fucking act right now because it's not fucking funny. When Eddie didn't come back with biting sarcasm, Richie knew it was serious, and his voice hitched an octave as he started shouting at the people around him to call the fucking LA Police. "Eddie! Eddie, baby, keep talking to me, let me know you're there."

Eddie was staring at the reflection, eyes wide and breath frozen in his throat as the shaking had moved to his limbs. The phone slipped from a trembling hand as a mass three times the size of any man lumbered in front of the window. It all happened in slow motion but Eddie felt like he couldn't move at all. Too late he realized the phone was falling, his hand dropping to try and catch it before it hit the floor with what felt like the loudest  _ thump _ .

It might as well have been a fog horn as the man cowering looked up just in time to see this monster turn it's head to the window, eyes a blazing yellow and horrid snout fogging the glass as it leaned in closer to investigate the sound. Eddie's hands flew to his mouth as he felt the panicked gulps of air threatening to seize his chest and expose his hiding spot to this creature. What the fuck was this? After Derry, was this really fucking surprising? Was this the same fucking thing? Was this  _ It _ again?

And he was alone this time. Completely alone. This wasn't helping him, terrified tears rolling down his cheeks as he tried to hold his spasming breaths in for fear of losing the sliver of an advantage he had. His eyes moved away from the reflection and to the phone on the floor, the screen luckily face down. Richie. He wanted Richie. If he was going to fucking die, he needed to tell Richie he loved him one more fucking time.

Focused on his husband, his breath evened as he concluded he needed to grab his phone. His eyes flicked up to the reflection to check if the monster was still there.

The monster was looking dead at him in the reflection of his window.

Eddie's scream was undercut by the sound of shattering glass.

~*~

The police car pulled into an empty lot, flashing blue and red lights flooding across the dark space, reflecting against the glass surface of the office building. Opening the door, one of the officers stood and looked up at the facade with a frown, ducking his head to tell his partner to start writing up a break in case card and call the owners of the building to keep them updated on whatever was happening. Though it didn't look like much was.

Gravel crunched under his boot as the officer Approached the door; it was barely open, like whoever last left hadn't closed it fully. With a wrinkled nose and an aggravated sigh. He turned and checked the lot again. No cars… Still, if they were called about a robbery in progress, he had to check it out.

He did a walk through of each floor, stopping on the fourth floor and looking down an empty hall. Walking the length, he checked inside each office, light flickering across silent desks, obscured by the names on the door but finding nothing inside. His light passed once more over the name Edward Tozier, but nothing looked out of the ordinary. Nothing was out of place.

As the officer returned downstairs, inside Eddie's office, an abandoned cellphone vibrated soundlessly against the carpet, an inefficacious plea for help that went unnoticed. Unheard like a silent scream.

**_It got Eds._ **

**Author's Note:**

> No editing or beta reading, we post with the confidence of cis white dudes. 👍


End file.
